From the desk of Emperor Hawthorn: (Chosen of the Serpent Goddess and supreme ruler by her will of the Hiksos Star Empire.)

Respected Agents of the Gauntlet Military Corporation: it has come to our attention via our extensive diplomatic corps that you have developed personal assault mech under the designation of a 'raptor chassis'. The Hiksos military R&D departments have been working on creating a practicable light armored combat mech for quite some time, and have had only limited success.

It is our pleasure therefor to extend to you an offer for the use of our empire's large scale manufacturing facilities for the purpose of filling some of the, excessively large, orders for these war machines you have designed: on the condition that you license the design to us for production for our own armed forces.

We also are willing to remunerate you a modest sum for each of the raptor chassis mechs to enter into our armed forces, though this amount would have to be in the stable currency of the Hiksos Dinari. However with the resources of eleven star systems to draw on the Dinari can buy nearly anything you could want, so we feel this is not an unreasonable stipulation.

Please give our offer due consideration:

~ S.D.I. Hawthorn

Brik World: see what it is like in The Third World. Brik Wars get's taken to strange new places, where there is more to war than just the fighting. Ask me about it some time...

As requested, the design of the Raptor MTC chassis. No doubt you already have the blueprints for the legs.

I believe you to be an intelligent ruler, and thus hope you will avoid biting the hand that feeds you, but instead will put this design to good use. However, I cannot guarantee that you will be the only one we sell our combat mecha to, as we do need to make money somehow.

From the Desk of Chairthing Sonja Ying-Ling (Director of the Imperial Military Bureau of Design.)It is my duty to inform you that we have encountered number of problems with implementing the 'Raptor Chassis' line of combat mechs. First we were unable Make the pilot compartments fit a pilot properly, then once that issue was dealt with we found it raised further issues with the leg, arm, and weapon assemblies.

Those too were solved, but the resulting creation bears little resemblance to the original design which we lichened from your firm. The Empire therefore offers you ten thousand Dinari in compensation for your creative work and the elements of the design which did not require re-engineering, and considers this an end point to our contract.

If you were able to help our automated factory systems build the original design to intended specifications we would be willing to reinstate the contract, but at the present time we have no further use for the typical Raptor Chassis. However, as our new design is based on yours and we believe that a worker is worthy of the fruits of their labors please peruse the encrypted file being sent to you in the same pouch as this letter. It contains the full specs for our new 'Dragon' Chassis,based upon your own 'Raptor'. Among other improvements is the capability forshort bursts of actual flight, a design feature that I am sure would be of interest to you.

~ ChairthingSonjaYing-Ling.

Brik World: see what it is like in The Third World. Brik Wars get's taken to strange new places, where there is more to war than just the fighting. Ask me about it some time...

From the Desk of Chairthing Sonja Ying-Ling (Director of the Imperial Military Bureau of Design.)It is my duty to inform you that we have encountered number of problems with implementing the 'Raptor Chassis' line of combat mechs. First we were unable Make the pilot compartments fit a pilot properly, then once that issue was dealt with we found it raised further issues with the leg, arm, and weapon assemblies.

Those too were solved, but the resulting creation bears little resemblance to the original design which we lichened from your firm. The Empire therefore offers you ten thousand Dinari in compensation for your creative work and the elements of the design which did not require re-engineering, and considers this an end point to our contract.

If you were able to help our automated factory systems build the original design to intended specifications we would be willing to reinstate the contract, but at the present time we have no further use for the typical Raptor Chassis. However, as our new design is based on yours and we believe that a worker is worthy of the fruits of their labors please peruse the encrypted file being sent to you in the same pouch as this letter. It contains the full specs for our new 'Dragon' Chassis,based upon your own 'Raptor'. Among other improvements is the capability forshort bursts of actual flight, a design feature that I am sure would be of interest to you.

Unlike your worthless scraps of cotton paper each Denarius is for one thing made from an artificial gemstone, and for another backed by a small fraction of the over a billion kilograms of gold bullion held in the Imperial Palace vaults.

Brik World: see what it is like in The Third World. Brik Wars get's taken to strange new places, where there is more to war than just the fighting. Ask me about it some time...

Oh, we have those too, but with those assets you naturally do not want civilians, no matter how rich, to be able to buy one. It is the concerted opinion of our government that your use of warships as a backing for your currency is both short sighted and dangerous. We would advise you to acquire large reserves of precious metals and transfer to a more stable economic stance, as much for our own sake as for yours, since piracy is already a problem without additional high powered ships coming into their hands from your fleet.

Brik World: see what it is like in The Third World. Brik Wars get's taken to strange new places, where there is more to war than just the fighting. Ask me about it some time...

I must concur with the Bavarians. Weaponry may be a better way to back up your currency. What is a precious metal but one people want? If you have more gold than iron on your planet, iron would become a precious metal. The GMC prefers to deal with things of more utilitarian value than aesthetic or perceived value. Additionally, what better way to get rid of pirates than to hire them as your employees?